Class I · Recall · initiated June 4, 2026 · Ongoing
La Colonia Foods recalls bulk requeson repacked from Clover Hill Dairy for Listeria
La Colonia Foods of Rockville, Maryland recalled 19 plastic 18 lb buckets of requeson, a soft fresh cheese it received in bulk from Clover Hill Dairy and repacked, because the product may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.
The record
- Firm
- La Colonia Foods Llc, Rockville, MD
- Product
- Requeson, bulk product from Clover Hill Dairy packed into a plastic 18-lb bucket. Unknown labeling information. Keep refrigerated.
- Reason, as filed
- “Products may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.”
- Classification
- Class I (Class I: reasonable probability of serious health consequences or death)
- Recall number
- H-1220-2026
- Initiated
- June 4, 2026
- Posted by FDA
- August 12, 2026
- Status
- Ongoing · Voluntary: Firm initiated
- Quantity
- 19 (18-lb bucket) units
- Distribution
- The recalled product was distributed to the following states: MD, VA
Verify: search any recall number above in FDA's enforcement report database.
Why it happened, in plain English
This is a small recall, 19 buckets in two states, but the product description is the interesting part. The requeson came as “bulk product from Clover Hill Dairy” and was “packed into a plastic 18-lb bucket” with “unknown labeling information.” La Colonia is a repacker. The record does not say whether Listeria was found at the dairy, in La Colonia’s own operation, or by a customer, only that the product “may be contaminated.”
Requeson is a fresh, high-moisture, refrigerated cheese, one of the product types where Listeria grows in the cold and every open-bucket transfer is an exposure point. In general terms a repacker of fresh cheese needs a cleaning program for the transfer area, environmental monitoring for Listeria on the repack line, and supplier verification for the dairy. The “unknown labeling” line also means downstream traceability is thin. It is hard to recall what you cannot identify.
Who else should care
Small distributors and Hispanic-foods wholesalers that buy fresh cheese in bulk and split it into foodservice buckets or retail tubs. Every transfer from a bulk container is a chance for Listeria to move from the environment into the product, and a repacker rarely has a kill step.
Small dairies that sell bulk to repackers should notice the other side of this. Once your cheese leaves in a bulk tub, the recall filed on it may not carry your name, but the question of where the organism came from will come back to you. Check: whether every bucket that leaves your repack room carries a lot code you could trace back to the dairy’s lot and forward to the customer.
Written 2026-09-08. Analysis is editorial; the record above is FDA's.